Spread The Love

All you need is love, right? The Beatles knew that. Those five little words got me thinking about just how important love is. Not necessarily a “kissy kissy” kinda love, but a caring, encouraging, supportive love between friends, family or even strangers. Love is for all. I bet you’re thinking, “okay, where are you going with this?” Well, lemme explain…

Christmas was a good opportunity to catch up with friends and family. It was really nice being able to see them, do fun things together and have a good ol’ natter. One thing that came up in conversation often was social media, and in particular, Instagram. It was discussed that the same one or two peoples’ posts would seem to feature multiple times across their feed, and not necessarily in chronological order. These posts are always swiftly followed by advert, upon advert, upon advert, often missing out on the content that they want to see. Also, when posting on Instagram, a lot of people felt deflated that their posts had not done so well, when they originally felt good about posting it. Almost like an addict hooked on the adrenaline of getting “likes”, they would keep opening Instagram to check to see if the post had done any better. I’ve felt a similar way. I’ve noticed that I spend far less time on Instagram than I used to because each time I use the app, I end up feeling down. It makes you feel like you’re doing something wrong.

Well let me tell you something… YOUARENOTDOINGANYTHINGWRONG. You’re all wonderful individuals who deserve to express yourselves in any form you like. YOUDOYOU. This year, I intend to support others more on social media by “liking”, commenting and (where possible) promoting their wonderfulness. Instagram and other social media sites should be a positive space, and they can be used as such, this is why I intend to change the way I perceive and use it. The other day, I was listening to the radio and the DJ was discussing ways of showing your appreciation for the people in your life. He recommended sending a message to a different person each week on a Monday morning telling them how much you care for them and how truly special they are. This small act of kindness will help brighten their day, set them up for the week and give them a boost of confidence and happiness. This really stuck with me and made me realise how genuinely important it is to show someone you care. Something so simple can help someone more than you may know. This really inspires me.